Grinding machine



Oct. 23, 1934. vUlLLEuMlER 1,977,747

GRINDING MACHINE Filed Jan. 29, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ALBERTl/U/LLEUM/EQ,

BYZZVKZQ 2 HIS AT O NEY- Patented Oct. 23, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT orrca GBINDIN G MACHINE Application January 29, 1929, Serial No. 335,916 10Claims. (Cl. 51-103) This invention relates to grinding machines andcomprises all the features of novelty herein disclosed in connectionwith a machine for feeding balls in a centerless grinding machine. An

' object of the invention is to provide improved mechanism for feedingballs especially to a centerless grinding machine having grooved wheels.Another object is to provide improvements in the mechanism of mycopending application Serial 10 Number'.226,005. To these ends and toimprove generally and in detail upon machines of this character, theinvention further resides in the various matters hereinafter describedand claimed.

15 In its broader aspects the invention is not necessarily limited tothe specific construction selected for illustrative purposes in theaccom panyingdrawings in which Fig.' l is a side elevation of themachine with go some parts omitted.

Fig. 2 is an end view with some parts in section and with some of the Iactuating mechanism omitted.

Fig. 3 is a similar view of the actuating mechagg nism with one set ofcams omitted.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the work support.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the toggle mechanism.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a portion of one 30 standard andassociated mechanism.

Fig. '7 is a perspective view of a guide.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a bar.

Fig. 9 is a side view of one of the cam wheels.

Fig. 10 is a side view of another cam wheel.

5 Fig. 11 is an end view of parts shown in Fig. 2 to a larger scale.

Fig. 12 is a plan view partly in section of the.

feed block and associated mechanism.

Fig. 13 is a side view of the preceding.

Fig. 14 is a perspective view of certain details.

Fig. 15 is a perspective view of the feed plate.

The numeral 10 indicates a grinding wheel rotatable downwardly at thework at high speed and having peripheral ball grooves 12 (Fig. 12)cooperating with similar ball grooves 14 on a regulating wheel 16 whichhas its axis tilted in a'vertical plane substantially parallel to theaxis of the grinding wheel. The regulating wheel rotates upwardly. atthe work and its inclination causes the balls to constantly change theiraxes of rotation while restingcn the inclined work support 18. The ballsalways occupy alternate grooves, first the odd grooves and then theeven.

grooves, and a. new ball is fed into the first groove 65 on everyalternate advance 0! the loaded balls.

To permit this advance of the loaded balls along the work-support pastthe ribs separating the ball grooves, the regulating wheel 16 isintermittently moved away from the grinding wheel by means of a slideand then moved back again.

60 The inclined work support is formed by the .upper edge of avertically adjustable plate 20 which has its sides grooved as indicatedat 22 to allow close approach of the grooved abrasive wheels to the worksupport. The grooves in the regulating wheel are progressively shallowerin order to continue grinding as the balls get smaller. The plate 20 isslotted at 24 to permit its being clamped in vertically adjustedposition by bolts 26. Vertical adjustment is effected by lifting bars 28secured to the plate and having inclined ends 30 engaging inclines 32 ona rod 34 guided endwise in a hole of the supporting casting 36. The rodis movable endwise by an adjusting screw 38 threaded in the supportingcasting and having a squared end 40 for a wrench. The supporting castinghas a tongue 42 entering a slot in a lower slide 44 which carries theregulating wheel and is adjustable crosswise of the lower slide by ascrew 46 threaded in the supporting casting and having a collar 48entering between a pair of forked uprights 50 on a bracket 52 attachedto the lower slide. This adjustment places work support and feedmechanism in proper relation to the grinding grooves and the position ismaintained by clamping bolts 54, which secure the supporting casting tothe lower slide.

For advancing the balls from groove to groove, a feed plate or comb isprovided. This comprises a plate having lugs or teeth 62 which arespaced just twice as far apart as the ball grooves on the grindingwheels. The comb is carried by two spaced plates 64 bolted to liftingplates 66 which are'slidable vertically in grooved ways 68 in ahorizontal slide '70 and retainedmnthe 95 ways by gib plates 72. Thehorizontal slide has upper and lower tongues 74 and '76 slidable in ways'78. on vertical standards 80 and retained in the ways by gib plates 82.Each standard 80 has an attaching lug 84 by which it is bolted 1 0 stepadvances all the balls to the second, fourth, sixth, etc. ball grooves.The next feed step advances all the balls to the third, fifth, seventh,etc. ball grooves while a new ball enters the first groove and afinished or last ball runs off the end of the work support. The feedcomb is then lifted, retracted while above the balls, and lowered forfeeding again.

Horizontalmovement of the feed comb is effected as follows byreciprocation of the horizontal slide 70. A turnbuckle comprising aninternally threaded housing 90, nuts 92, and threaded rods 94 and 96 hasone rod 94 pivoted at 98 to the slide 70 and the other rod 96 pivoted at100 in a fork of a bell crank lever 102 which is pivoted at 104 to a lug106 on the front standard 80. An arm 108 of the bell crank lever carriesa cam roll 110 engaging cam plates on a slotted cam carrying disc 112whose hub 114 is keyed to a cam shaft 116 journalled in bushings in lugs118 and 120 on a bracket 122 bolted to the lower slide 44. The cam shaftis an extension of a shaft (not shown) which controls the regulatingwheel slide 44. The cam roll is shown ready for lifting by an incline124 on an arcuate cam plate 126 bolted to the disc 112. This causes thefirst feed step of the comb. Later the cam roll rides up a secondincline 128 on a second arcuate cam plate 130 and causes the second feedstep. Still later the cam roll rides down a longer incline 132 and soallows the feed comb to be retracted by a spring 134 attached to the topbar 86 and to the slide 70. Arcuate plates 136 and 138 (Fig. 9), boltedto disc 112 in overlapping relation to the cam plates 126 and 130complete the periphery of the cam.

Lifting, retraction, and lowering of the feed comb should occur onlyafter the second feed step, in the illustrated construction, and thefollowing mechanism is provided to effect it. The lifting plates 66 havetheir upper ends enlarged and slotted horizontally as at 140 to receiveantifriction rolls 142 journalled on studs 144 and 146.

Stud 144 has a collar 145 at one end and its other end is threaded inone end of a straight toggle lever 148 which is pivoted on a stud 150 ofthe top bar 86. Stud 146 is threaded in one end of a toggle lever 152which is pivoted on a stud 154 of the top bar and the other end oftoggle lever 152 is forked and offset to lie alongside of lever 148between the arms of a bifurcated link 156. A pivot pin 158 passesthrough the arms of the link, through the end of lever 148 and throughan antifriction roll 160 which is straddled by the forked end of lever152. The upper end of link 156 is bifurcated and pivoted by a pin 162 toa long lever 164 pivoted on a stud 166 fixed to 2. lug 168 of the topbar. The lever 164 is pivoted by a pin 170 to a turnbuckle comprising athreaded casing 1'72, nuts 174 and threaded rods 1'76 and 178, thelatter being pivoted by a pin to a slide bar 182 which is slidablysupported near its ends in ways 184 formed by slots and closure plates186 at the ends of a yoke 188 whose hub 190 is bolted to the lug 118 ofthe bracket 122. The slide bar 182 is slotted at 192 to straddle the camshaft. The slide'bar carries two cam rollers 194 and 196 for actuationby arcuate cam plates 198 and 200 bolted at opposite sides of a slotteddisc 202 whose hub is keyed to the cam shaft. The cam plates are solocated and so shaped as to reciprocate the bar 182 to lift and lowerthe feed comb through the toggle connection in proper timed relation tothe retracting movement of the feed comb.

Balls are fed onto the work support by the following mechanism. Theballs travel by gravity in a stream through a pipe (not shown) to theupper end of an inclined feed tube 210 which is integral with a feedblock 212 bolted to a shelf on the supporting casting. The exit opening214 extends through a finished face 216 on the feed block which fitsclosely up to one of the plates 64 on the feed comb and closely up to athin shutter plate 218 which is lifted and lowered with the feed comb.The shutter plate has an attaching portion 220 which is fastened acrossa horizontal guide slot 222 on a vertically slidable block 224, the slotreceiving and guiding a reduced extension 226 of the feed comb. Theblock has a tongue 228 to guide it vertically in a slot of a stop plate230 fastened to the front standard 80. The shutter plate 218 and theplate 64 retain the balls in the feed tube while the feed comb isactuated but, when the first notch in the feed comb moves into alignmentwith the exit opening, the lowermost ball moves out into the notch andonto the work support and is prevented from passing too far by the stopplate 230 which extends up close to the end of the grinding wheel. Theexit opening 214 communicates with a lateral slot 232 in the feed blockso that, while the shutter plate retains the remaining balls in the feedblock, the ball being fed along the work support will be free to move alittle way transversely down the incline of the work support to pass thefirst rib on the grinding wheel. The edge 2340f the feed block isinclined to accommodate the inclination of the regulating wheel and thework supporting plate is notched 11; at 236 to let the shutter plateoverlap the work support, the overlapping portion retaining the ballswhen the shutter plate is raised. When the finished ball moves off therear end of the work support, it runs down an inclined channel 238 115in a block 240 fastened at one side of the rear standard 80. Part of theblock is inclined at 242 to accommodate the inclination of theregulating wheel and the block also has a cut away portion at 244 toreceive a corner of the work supporting 120 plate 20.

Summarizing a cycle, the regulating wheel 16 being retracted from thegrinding wheel 10, a new ball is fed forward by the feed plate one stepand simultaneously the already loaded balls in alternate grooves are alladvanced to the next grooves. The regulating wheel is then returned andthe balls are partly ground. The regulating wheel is again retracted andthe feed plate advances another step to carry a new ball between thewheels into the first groove and simultaneously all the loaded balls areagain advanced to the next following grooves. The regulating wheel isreturned again and the balls ground some more and meanwhile the feedplate is lifted, re- 13 tracted over the balls and lowered for feedingagain when a new cycle is begun.

I claim:

1. In a grinding machine having opposed wheels, a feed plate between thewheels, means 140 for advancing the feed plate by two successive forwardfeeding strokes and retracting it by one stroke, and positive means forboth lifting and lowering the feed plate between the end of the secondfeeding stroke and the beginning of a sub- 145 sequent forward feedingstroke; substantially as described.

2. In a grinding machine having opposed wheels, a feed plate between thewheels, devices for controlling advance of the feed plate by two 150successive feeding strokes and a single retraction stroke, and togglemechanism for lifting and lowering the feed plate; substantially asdescribed.

3. In a grinding machine having ppos d wheels, a feed plate, a slidehaving ways for slidably supporting the feed plate, means for moving thefeed plate transversely o! the slide, a cam, and adjustable actuatingmeans between the cam and the slide; substantially as described.

4. In a grinding machine having opposed wheels, 9. feed plate, a slidehaving ways for slidably supporting the feed plate, a cam shaft havingcams, means for actuating the slide from one of the cams and the feedplate from another, and

adjusting devices in said actuating means; substantially as described.

5. In a ball grinding machine having opposed wheels, a feed plateextending between the wheels and having a plurality of ball engagingteeth, means for reciprocating the feed plate to advance the ballsbetween the wheels, a feed block having an opening leading to the feedplate, a shutter plate for opening and closing theopening, a slide blocktor guiding the shutter plate across the opening, and a slidingconnection between the feed plate and the slide block; substantially asdescribed.

s. In a ball grinding machine having opposed wheels, a feed plateextending between the wheels and having a plurality of ball engagingteeth, an inclined work support, a feed block having a ball openingleading to the inclined work support, the feed block having a lateralslot communicating with the opening, a shutter plate for opening orclosing the opening, and means for actuating the feed plate to carry aball along the work support and through the lateral slot; substantiallyas de-. scribed.

'1. In a ball grinding machine having grooved wheels, a slidablesupport, ball feed ng mechanism carried by the support, and mechanismfor adjusting the support and feeding mechanism bodily lengthwise of thegrooved wheels and crosswise of the grooves therein: substantially as 8.In a ball grinding machine having grooved wheels, a work support betweenthe wheels, a slide for one of the wheels, a support transverselymovable on the slide, ball feeding carried by the support, and mechanismfor adjusting the support and the ball ieeding mechanism transversely ofthe slide with respect to, the. wheels; substantially as described.

9. In a ball grinding machine having opposed wheels, a work supportextending between the wheels. a feed plate extending over the worksupport, a feed block havingan exit opening leading to the-feed plate,means for actuating the feed plate to advance the balls along the worksupport irom the exit opening, means for shifting the feed plate inanother direction to clear the balls, and a shutter plate movable in thelast direction with the feed plate to close the exit opening;substantially as described.

10. In a ball grinding machine having opposed wheels, a work supportextending between the wheels, a feed plate extending over the worksupport, a feed block having an exit opening leading to the feed plate,means for actuating the feed plate to advance the balls along the worksupport from the exit opening, means for shifting the feed plate inanother direction to clear the balls, a sliding block movable in thelast direction with the feed plate, a shutter plate on the sliding blockto close the exit opening, and the sliding block having means to guidethe feed plate in its ilrst direction; substantially as described.

AIBERT its

